‘The Priests’ release ‘Alleluia’ album in time for Easter

As ‘The Priests’ look forward to the re-release of their album ‘Alleluia’ in time for Easter they reflect on being an overnight success that was almost 40 years in the making.

The Very Reverend Eugene O’Hagan, Martin O’Hagan and Ballymena native David Delargy – collectively known as The Priests – were catapulted to fame when they signed with Sony BMG in 2008.

Number one hits, speculation of a duet with Lady Gaga and interest from Australia, the USA and Europe followed.

“It was all a bit of a whirlwind,” said Eugene.

“It was really accidental rather than by design. We went from obscurity to being very well known.”

One minute they were making their way to isolated farms to meet members of their local community, the next they were being flown to St Peter’s Basilica, to record at The Vatican.

David said: “We were trying to make sure all our duties in the parish were covered. After three albums, we decided it was time to reduce our travelling and spend more time in our parishes.”

Having caught their breath, the Priests will be back on October 7 with their fourth studio album. It will follow in the slipstream of their 2008 debut, The Priests, which reached number one in Ireland and number five in the UK, scoring a platinum disc in both territories.

The classical music trio have more ideas in the pipeline and hope that the release of their fourth album will be followed by a feature film, called ‘Raising the Roof’. The movie is currently in pre-production in Hollywood.